Days 33–34: Queenstown
A mix of relaxation and adventure in the southern capital
After visiting Wanaka, we knew we’d be hard pressed to find somewhere just as stunning, but Queenstown gave it a run for its money.
The drive there continued to take us past lakes and mountains — and also signs for ski fields which were strange given that there was no snow there at the time.
We stopped off at a scenic lookout just outside of Queenstown to have lunch. We had great views of the Crown mountain range and Queenstown off in the distance.
We even saw a plane coming in to land as it flew right through the middle of the mountains — it must have been great looking out from the plane. We also got chatting to an old Aussie couple — by old I mean my parents’ age — and we shared some tips as we were travelling in opposite directions.
After lunch, we carried on down to Queenstown through a lot of hairpin turns, all the while enjoying the mountain scenery.
Like Wanaka, Queenstown also had a service hub so we were lucky enough to have more hot showers before driving up to the only free campsite near to Queenstown — they closed the rest down because of idiot travellers making a mess of them. Grrr!
The campsite was actually just a carpark — as some of them often are — but it was right next to a bridge where they do bungee jumping, so we had fun watching people throw themselves — or get gently nudged — off into the river. If they jumped right, they ended up dipping their heads into the river.
One woman lost her shoe and we watched as the current took it off downstream. You had to feel sorry for her, but it was also pretty funny.
I’m a big fan of adrenaline sports, but I always imagined a bungee jump to be a lot higher than this one was so I couldn’t help but think it was a bit tame.
We had a lot planned for the following day so we were up pretty sharpish — it seems to be a common theme for us at the moment.
We started off with something towards the relaxing end of the spectrum in the form of a cruise of Queenstown on Lake Wakatipu.
The lake is New Zealand’s longest and its third largest lake so we actually only ended up cruising a small part of it called the Frankton Arm, in the vicinity of Queenstown.
It was a lovely sunny day for a cruise and the captain gave us a good tour of both the town and the natural wonders surrounding it. We cruised past some very expensive suburbs and apartment blocks as well as The Remarkables and Crown mountain ranges.
Just the lake on its own was really cool. It’s nearly four hundred metres deep in parts which means its bottom is below sea level. Other parts are only a few feet deep in places.
Also, back in the day, a sailor put some wooden stakes into the shallow regions to help him navigate these parts of the lake. It turned out that the stakes were made of willow which then sprouted and grew into full-grown willow islands. Of the twelve stakes, eight of them are still thriving today.
And finally, the water in the lake is 99.9% pure so most of Queenstown use it as drinking water.
We ended the cruise back in the harbour where a boat called Yvalda was docked. Apparently, it used to be owned by Churchill during the war and was actually used during the evacuation of Dunkirk!
After starting off with the relaxing cruise, we then went on to do a bit of jet boating. Jet boats were designed in New Zealand and they propel themselves forward by sucking in water from the front and shooting it out the back. Their design makes them extremely agile.
Surprisingly, it was Anna who suggested the night before that we book it! I’m not sure what got into her, but I wasn’t going to complain.
All in all, we only spent twenty-five minutes in the water, but it was definitely a whirlwind of a trip. We followed a similar route to the cruise but because the jet boats are designed to be used in shallow water, we went straight through the bridge at the end of the lake and into the Karawau River.
We did a mix of three sixty spins, cruising at full-speed down the river, and flying really close to trees and rocks on the riverbank. We were constantly getting wet from the spins and then drying off again in the wind when we were throttling along.
The one thing the boat isn’t great at is driving in even the slightest bit of swell. If you ever need your spine shrinking, then taking a jet boat ride on some swell will sort you out as it pounds back down on the water again each time.
It was great fun, but twenty-five minutes was enough for me as I had to wait for my stomach to settle afterwards.
We sat on the green and ate a cup of sorbet to help us recover; one flavour was orange and basil — odd but surprisingly tasty — and the other was the classic lemon — you cannot go wrong with lemon sorbet.
Our final booking of the day was an ice bar. It’s probably the wrong season to be heading to an ice bar, but we got a drink included and neither of us has ever been to one before so we thought, why not?
We got kitted up in some very well worn jackets, some equally well-worn boots, and some very low-quality gloves. Things were off to a good start!
The bar was minus twelve degrees Celsius which can only be described as a bit nippy.
We picked out our cocktails — served in glasses made of ice — and admired the sculptures and furniture. We had to be careful when putting down our drinks as they have a tendency to slide onto the floor.
We drank our drinks, played ice hockey on an actual ice table, took a few photos, and tried to ignore the sheepskins that we didn’t know would be all over the place! What bad vegans we are.
One drink was more than enough because both of us were starting to lose feeling in our hands by this point. It felt amazing getting back out into the sunshine again.
There ended our planned activities for the day so we explored the town for a bit before grabbing ourselves another shower at the hub and some pizza from Domino’s. It was a very pamperful — no idea if that’s a word; just Googled it and it isn’t, oh well, it’s staying — day for us.
It was pretty late by the time we moved on so we didn’t drive far before stopping for the night at a campsite right next to Lake Wakatipu. The drive to the campsite was amazing as the sky behind the mountains was a really cool mix of colours and it made the silhouetted mountains look great.
